I guess it is time to begin my build log on the Eagle. Back in May I started thinking about what my next build was going to be. I am currently working on the rigging phase on my Mamoli Connie. She has been challenging and rewarding and will continue to be for a period to come as I work through the rigging and get her into a case.

However, the decision of which ship you want to spend the next year or so with isn't one I take lightly. I was looking for something that would hook my interest in both the construction as well as the history. I was looking from something more scratch built, but not so crazy that it was beyond my skills to complete. I found and downloaded Gene Bodnar’s Practicum on the USS Brig Eagle as well as Crisman's dissertation and book. I think this ship matches everything I am looking for.

So I started working not he plans. I have been posting a few questions as I worked through the ship's drawings and info. Gene, Winston, Gary and others have been a great help when I had questions.

I decided early on, that my drafting skills sorely lacked. Just like my penmanship, it is difficult to read, even for me. However there were a number of great little CAD programs I could use on my Macbook Air. I started by scanning the original Crisman drawings and running them through Vector Magic to vectorize them. I pulled the freshly vectored drawings into iDraw and started integrating them all into one another. My goal was to have a single drawing with all the plans of the ship. The lofting plans would be separate.

I was able to get the drawings into a 1:48 scaled master but I was still having a few issues with them - 1) the lines were way to thick (and vague in places), 2) there was some distortion (expected when taking something that small from a book and enlarging it.

While I was able to get my first master plan done in iDraw, I was not happy with it. I was pushing the program to do things it really was not designed to do. So I switched over to DeltaCAD. I had used DeltaCAD years ago only old PC to develop woodworking plans for some furniture as well as the theater seating platform in my basement, so I was familiar with how it worked. I stopped using it because I had switched over to Macs and it did not run on them. Well it does now!

So I pulled the iDraw plans into DeltaCAD. This was not without issue. Primarily, everything I did in layers in iDraw had to be flattened into a PDF for importing. This allowed me to have it available to take measurements off for the lofting, but it still suffered from the problems above. While I was able to get about a third of the frames lofted, I finally I decided to bite the bullet and redraw the plans. I would trace the lines off the old master into a new drawing set. This would allow me to correct both the issue with the lines being fat and vague and correct distortions that had cropped up.

I have completed this effort and am happy with it. Along the way I have made a few adjustments to the plans. Firstly, I found the Brodie Stove orientation on the Crisman plans to be backwards to that on other ships. I could not find anything substantive on why it was placed like it was, so I turned it around in the more traditional orientation. By necessity this also caused me to move it aft s few feet.

I found a great chart for the Royal Navy's siding of the stoves based upon the ship ratings. I used this to scale the stove since we know the British ship "Alert" was an 18 gun sloop. The great news is this fit perfectly on the ship once it was scaled!

Secondly I wanted to add an Anchor Capstan to the main deck as others have done. I have a couple of questions to resolve in this. First, was it oriented to the deck lines or the keel. The difference was about 2 degrees. I also looked at whether the axle needed to run through to the keelson. What I found was the capstan was oriented with the deck. Unless it was a double capstan, the axle would not extend into the deck below but would terminate in beefed up deck framing. For this effort, I used the Marquardt Anatomy of a Ship - Old Ironsides. I found this to be useful since the Constitution was a contemporary ship to the Eagle. Since the Navy was into reuse to save cost and speed in the construction of the Eagle, it is entirely possible they used a capstan very similar to that found on it's frigates. While the frigates capstans were double decker, the Eagle's would have been single. The sizing of the capstan would have been close. The over all height of all capstans would have been very close since they were designed for the sailors to push. So the difference could be the drum circumference. However there is nothing on scaling drum sizes that I could find. So I used the design and sizing front he Connie and placed it aft of the main mast per Gene's practicum.

I will continue to work my way through the lofting process as well as layer in additional construction details as I go along. The great thing about CAD is once the framework is in place, it is relatively easy to build on it and layer in as many details as one wants. I have also started pulling things like the Brodie Stove and Windlass into separate files so they can be reused in other ships.

So here is a PDF of my current master plan. This shows where the frames are located in the side profile. I also have a layer that extends across all the plans for the frames to se exactly where a frame crosses a particular section or line of the ship. However for clarity, I have opted this layer in this printout.

I have also included a sample of the lofting grid with a number of the frames shown overlaid.

I have managed to complete lofting of all the square frames from X forward and have started working on the frames aft of X. Once I completed the forward frames, I opened them two at a time and smoothed the transitions between them. As I finished a set, I would close the aft most frame and open the next frame forward. In this manner I was able to insure that the lines flowed well between the frames.

I did learn in this that with the CAD system it was better to complete all the frames like they all continued up to the bottom of the upper handrail. This made the spine consistent between the frames. I marked where each would terminate so those ending in a cannon port are still marked where they should end. It is just during the lofting that I take them all the way to the rail.

Outstanding work. I really like the cutting template. I think it will be a time saver, not to mention an accuracy thing. As for the gun ports. Did you mark the lower sill of each gun port. I believe its in the neighborhood of 1/8" or 5 inches in full scale. I agree about making all the frames to full length and then foreshortening the ones that terminate at the gun port sills afterward. It allows for a better appreciation and accuracy of the inside dimension of the frame.

Yes. I marked the lower gun sill port on the affected frames. I also figured out it was easier for me if I changed the color of the buttocks plot lines on the lofting when I got to the deck. Otherwise I kept trying to plot through the point and it really did not work - duh. By changing the color when I get to the deck, gun sill and rail points I know just to leave the marks but not try to align them with any spine points. If that makes sense to you.

Today i completed the lofting phase of the build. Thanks particularly to Gary who helped me through the cant frames and Gene when coming up on something i did not follow. Since i have time now before i will start cutting planks, i will do a thorough review of the frames, especially the early ones. I also plan on drafting the various furniture i want to include on board.

Thanks. I also finished lofting the Counter Timbers today so my lofting is done.

I have been debating what wood to use. I think I will make a trip to the local hardwood store to see what they have. I was thinking Cherry and Maple as the primary woods, but I am open to suggestions.

It will still be awhile before I start cutting anything. I need to finish the rigging and build a case for the Connie. I also want to build, or at least try to build a ship's wheel out of the Real Connie wood I received. I will need to do a dry run before I start cutting the real wood.

I also am having surgery on my shoulder on Wednesday next week, so that will put a damper on my building for a bit.